taking pictures of paintings
Willie wjb
The problem i get is that i have to watch out for reflections from the
painting.
The best results are by taking them outside with normal light conditions.
Who can tell me how i best can create a situation where i do not get the
reflections.
Thanks,
Willie.
Onepercentf
company, and we took a lot of pictures for identification purposes. Always
from the side. regards, David
Gorham
As was said above, from the side. Also, look at the reflection
beforehand and try to position yourself so other objects aren't
reflected. Or you. :) I once took a dandy photo (I thought at the time)
with no flash flare and not a lot of angle distortion ... only to find
that I had a very nice surrealistic shot of another person who'd been
standing a short distance off. I've also been known to find light
fixtures in the reflection.
It's tough but you do your best.
G.
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Willie wjb
paintings for a portfolio, so i am stuck with shooting them from the front.
"Onepercentf" <onepe...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020829063659...@mb-mi.aol.com...
Bill Karoly
that might reflect off of the painting. The shadow of a building works.
Bill
"Willie wjb" <wjb...@nomail.nl> wrote in message
news:3d6df5fa$0$21849$1b62...@news.euronet.nl...
Unknown
wrote:
See: How to Photograph Works of Art
by: Collins
Pub: AmPhoto
Mike Elek
lens. Some lenses will show either barrel or pincushion distortion. This
seems to be a nonissue with most lenses today, but it's something to check,
especially with zooms.
--
Mike Elek
[Remove 'NOSPAM' from the e-mail address]
See my camera collection:
http://host.fptoday.com/melek/pages/cameras-1.html
"Willie wjb" <wjb...@nomail.nl> wrote in message
news:3d6df5fa$0$21849$1b62...@news.euronet.nl...
SimRacer
A Polarizer on the lens OR 'pola-lenses' for your studio lights should help.
When you use studio lights, use one on each side of the camera and use a
light meter on each corner of the print to make sure the light is evenly
distributed across it. I have done some textured paintings in the past for
insuarance purposes and polarizing the lights did the trick for me.
Simon
shiny brass plaques? - I'd like to be able to read the words on them
clearly.
I may be photographing memorial plaques in a church sometime, and
many of these are shiny brass and to make matters worse, some are
directly opposite large windows.
My thoughts at the moment, and from reading this thread are:
1. Try to erect plain white sheets behind the camera to try to mask
the windows and any reflections of them.
and.
2. Shoot off-centre (probably from just below the level of the
plaque) to reduce the likelihood of the camera or me appearing in
the reflection and correct any perspective effects afterwards in
Paintshop.
or
3. Erect a plain white sheet with a small lens-sized hole in and shoot
through the hole - I can imagine trying to position everything so
I fill the frame (there are quite a few of these plaques to do!)
will be a real pain!
Lenses to choose from at the moment...
100mm f/2.8 macro (this should be sharp and give a good flat image)
50mm f/1.7 (for where I can't get it all in with the 100)
24-85 f/3.5-4.5 (for those large ones that I can't get far enough
away
from for the 50 or 100 - bit of barrelling though!).
To read the engraved inscriptions, I'd expect some side-lighting would
be
particularly useful.
Any thoughts on these ideas?
Thanks,
Simon.
Mike Elek wrote:
>
> I'd also like to add that you need to make sure you are using the correct
> lens. Some lenses will show either barrel or pincushion distortion. This
> seems to be a nonissue with most lenses today, but it's something to check,
> especially with zooms.
>
> --
> Mike Elek
> [Remove 'NOSPAM' from the e-mail address]
> See my camera collection:
> http://host.fptoday.com/melek/pages/cameras-1.html
>
> "Willie wjb" <wjb...@nomail.nl> wrote in message
> news:3d6df5fa$0$21849$1b62...@news.euronet.nl...
> > i want to take some pictures of paintings.
> >
> > The problem i get is that i have to watch out for reflections from the
> > painting.
> > The best results are by taking them outside with normal light conditions.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Simon J. Harris email: s.j.h...@ic.ac.uk
Mechatronics in Medicine Laboratory, tel: 020 7589-5111 x 57068
Department of Mechanical Engineering, http://www.me.ic.ac.uk/case/mim
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine,
Exhibition Road, London SW7 2BX
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McLeod
the highest shutter speed you can to get away from ambient light
reflections. If the paintings are small enough you can set your camera on a
tripod, cut a hole for the lens in a large black piece of mat board, and
shoot through that. The black card will cut out the reflections back to the
camera.
"Willie wjb" <wjb...@nomail.nl> wrote in message
news:3d6e21e4$0$21858$1b62...@news.euronet.nl...
Bart van der Wolf
> i want to take some pictures of paintings.
>
> The problem i get is that i have to watch out for reflections from the
> painting.
The only real way to avoid reflections is by direct illumination with
polarized light, and shooting with a polarization filter. Avoid illuminating
the surroundings in front of the painting.
Bart
Michael Quack
Willie wjb says...
> the problem i have is that the person in question want photo's from his
> paintings for a portfolio, so i am stuck with shooting them from the front.
First aid is here:
http://www.photoquack.de/tutorials/repro.htm
--
Michael Quack <mic...@photoquack.de>
jriegle
will have low distortion and be very sharp. Get the camera's film plane
aligned parallel to the plane of the art. With the camera on a tripod
(assuming you don't have a copystand) Using the
viewfinder's edge with the edge of the painting should work good enough. It
will take some fine tuning to get it just right.
I use slow slide film or 100 speed print film for this work. I will
overexpose the print film by one stop and develop normally.
If the art has a glaze or is under glass. beware of any background
reflections.
After trying various lighting, I found two strobes on each side works best.
I don't have to worry about additional color correction. Put the strobes at
30 deg from the plane of the art with each 10' from the center of the
subject works best. Any more angle will result in reflections from the
surface of the art. I've been able to not need polarizers at 30 deg also. If
the art is large in size, say over 3 feet long, increase the distance of the
strobes. The idea here is to keep the illumination even on the art. This
angle will help to show the texture of the painting or paper somewhat. Use a
shallower angle for more texture. The strobe's axis should pass through the
horizontal center axis of the art (but at 30 deg to the front) . If your
tripod is silver, cover it with a dark cloth to control reflections. Once I
had to do a reshoot because something shiny reflected off the glass of some
framed art. Using a black cloth on the wall behind your subject will reduce
stray bounce light. Making a snoot for the flash out of black posterboard
will control stray light also. If the art is propped up on a table, cover
the table with dark fabric to illuminate reflections of the surface of the
table.
At the 30 Deg angle of the strobes, the illumination is the same as one
strobe head-on (sine of 30 deg times 2 =1) so it is easy to figure the
correct aperture needed for the distance with my manual flashes. Set the
camera to its maximum X-sync and turn out the room lights before shooting. I
use a halogen spot lamp to illuminate the subject brightly enough so I can
focus accurately. Of course it is turned off during the shoot. I recommend
making at least two exposures with print film and bracketing with slide
film.
John
T.P.
>i want to take some pictures of paintings.
There was a long and extremely boring thread about this very subject
recently. Why not search for it on Google before putting us all
through this gratuitous boredom for a second time in only a few weeks?
Willie wjb
(i do not own a standard lens at this moment.)
"Mike Elek" <me...@fptoday.com> wrote in message
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Ray Paseur
two strobes well out at the sides so that they fire across the surface of
the painting at about 15-20 degrees off parallel. You can retain some
texture this way, and won't get too much reflection. Beware of shadows
around the frames. If they are undesirable, you may need some fill flash.
"Willie wjb" <wjb...@nomail.nl> wrote in message
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